REVIEW: Dinner in America [2022]

You better tame that tone. Born from the decision to combine two sketches written in the aughts that weren’t quite working on their own, filmed in 2018 (stewarded with the help of Danny Leiner, who passed during production), and debuted in 2020 at Sundance, writer/director Adam Rehmeier would be forgiven for just being happy Dinner in America is finally hitting the public. The result is more than the culmination of a lengthy artistic gestation, though, because its content, humor, and heart all merge to deliver a piece with the potential…

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REVIEW: Big Time Adolescence [2020]

You’re my Guillermo. Kate Harris (Emily Arlook) sums up Jason Orley‘s Big Time Adolescence perfectly when she tries to explain two simple facts to her ex-boyfriend Zeke (Pete Davidson) about his friendship with her younger brother Monroe (Griffin Gluck). The first is that Mo only hangs out with him because he wants to feel cool. When you’re a teenager with few friends who hangs out with a twenty-something that has access to alcohol and drugs, you puff out your chest in the idea that you’re somehow better than those your…

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REVIEW: Just Go With It [2011]

“Holy Devlin, you’re not listening to me” The past few years have had one mantra—avoid Happy Madison productions. I don’t think it would anger too many people to say that they general suck. It pains me to write it, but it’s the truth. I grew up on Billy Madison; I love The Wedding Singer; add in Big Daddy and you’ve got a pretty memorable trifecta of comedy. The funniest moment at my screening of Just Go with It even harkened back to the good ol’ days when a guy behind…

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